tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post6691446632147345459..comments2015-05-04T06:26:24.000+01:00Comments on BPS Research Digest: Working memory training does not live up to the hypeResearch Digesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10732209043758527445noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-45786348136027035902014-05-18T14:51:42.557+01:002014-05-18T14:51:42.557+01:00I think the significance of such interventions are...I think the significance of such interventions are in treating mental illness. For example, training working memory has been showed to improve impulse control in alcoholics. It is also important to bear in mind that, just like physical exercise, any brain training exercises (even something as simple as reading) must be done on a regular basis to retain the benefits. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-91245449397198521362014-02-03T00:42:50.119+00:002014-02-03T00:42:50.119+00:00How does chewing raw garlic affect working memory?...How does chewing raw garlic affect working memory?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-32918642902693942102013-11-12T07:27:03.040+00:002013-11-12T07:27:03.040+00:00I struggle with everyday life. I&#39;m a caregiver...I struggle with everyday life. I&#39;m a caregiver for a living. I do get things done on time but it&#39;s such a struggle for my brain. Simple care-giving mentally exhausts me. There are many other things I want to get done (start a business, get a girlfriend, presentation on organic food at community library) but they are so mentally exhausting. I feel ashamed for not protecting the environment and doing other things because of my mental exhaustion. I go out more than most city dwellers (I spend most time outside exercising). I eat mostly healthy. My bad working memory is also affecting my friendships. I find it hard to make friends because I get mentally exhausted around people.<br /><br />Plz, do not chew raw garlic. I did chew raw garlic, and I damaged my working memory.<br /><br />My long term memory is fine. I can still write about things I learned in college.<br />I&#39;m sad about my working memory. I need it for my engineering career. Perhaps, I&#39;ll reincarnate into a healthier person. Until then, I need a non-judgmental and stress-free support group. I live in San Jose, CA. Any suggestions? Mi Buhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767609057916937581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-35860201090773324552013-10-26T20:24:03.294+01:002013-10-26T20:24:03.294+01:00Another one:
research from T. Alloway, Bibile an...Another one: <br /><br />research from T. Alloway, Bibile and Lau published in may 2013.<br />See article: Computerized working memory training: can it lead to gains in cognitive skils in students?<br /><br />tracyalloway.com/journal-articles/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-7714076583836053042013-10-26T02:05:05.444+01:002013-10-26T02:05:05.444+01:00Yes . I remediate working memory disabilities and ...Yes . I remediate working memory disabilities and have an assessment The Prosodic Assessment One of the first signals of progress is usually through the more observant members noticing improved communication..I won&#39;t say speech because working memory is needed for remembering the language and expressions shared. Not being able to do this on a day to day basis is shattering. Additionally reading comprehension is dependent upon working memory ..Dyslexia is red herring really , some clever ruse by the former Department of Retardation, I suppose. Because dyslexia is not about mixing-up the words and the letters.. It&#39;s about working memory ...http://www.readspeak.co.nznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-62587789125626678032013-09-25T18:24:02.055+01:002013-09-25T18:24:02.055+01:00I used Cogmed for my high school sophmore son with...I used Cogmed for my high school sophmore son with very good results. He found his ability to concentrate and pay attention in class much easier. He studied and did projects on his own. He graduated HS and is now a freshman in college. He struggled his younger school years. I also did other interventions with him and avoided meds. My 7th grade daughter is also struggling in school. I am going to have her start Jungle Memory. My view is that it can&#39;t hurt. It may help her a little or it may help a lot. Every person is different. With additional support protocols, I view these types of programs as one piece in the overall puzzle to help. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-90449455337602240062013-08-23T14:59:47.324+01:002013-08-23T14:59:47.324+01:00If he has working memory difficulties then whateve...If he has working memory difficulties then whatever you teach will need to be repeated and rehearsed until stored in long term memory. To improve reading comprehension etc an intensive program that explicitly teaches reading and writing skills which incorporates a multisensory approach is the only way to go as this has evidence to support its effectiveness. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-61747625544931640722013-06-22T13:36:34.927+01:002013-06-22T13:36:34.927+01:00I&#39;m the mother of a six-year-old who has just ...I&#39;m the mother of a six-year-old who has just finished first grade. He has some learning dissabilities which I would like to work on over the summer. He&#39;s working with a speech therapist on a weekly basis, but I would like to do something that improves his reasoning skills so that he can understand what he reads, what he is told as well as math concepts. What do you think would be a good program to help him over the summer? All suggestions will be appreciated!Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05249475910309333917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-14856634204902791892013-06-10T20:27:55.998+01:002013-06-10T20:27:55.998+01:00Okay, now I&#39;m really confused. As a parent of ...Okay, now I&#39;m really confused. As a parent of a child w/ low working memory (13%) and Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder - would it hurt (or be a complete waste of $42) to have him try the Jungle Memory Program over the summer? If you say don&#39;t use it, please let me know if you have any other suggestions. Thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-66670811111826667182013-05-04T04:05:52.969+01:002013-05-04T04:05:52.969+01:00Can anyone recommnd a professional to evaluate wor...Can anyone recommnd a professional to evaluate working memory related learning disability? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-87852464422166666342013-03-15T14:26:22.397+00:002013-03-15T14:26:22.397+00:00Does this change in brain activity translate to re...Does this change in brain activity translate to relevant changes in behavior? If not, then training remains worthless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-54084145496744609582013-02-25T18:17:34.189+00:002013-02-25T18:17:34.189+00:00I have been using Cogmed with students for nearly ...I have been using Cogmed with students for nearly 2 years now, and have found that when tailored interventions are employed alongside and after the training to help children catch up with concepts they found difficult before training, good progress is made with reading, spelling and maths. As Cogmed doesn&#39;t teach any content, but strengthens processes, it would be unreasonable to think that improvements to working memory alone would suddenly result in better test scores. As a teacher I have seen much better retention and use of taught strategies following Cogmed, which performance on standardised tests is not always able to capture. I agree that children need time to learn to use improved working memory capabilities and perhaps it might be useful to wait and see how children progress over a longer period before rushing to make a judgement about the training.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-83389520788416652332013-02-25T06:17:09.054+00:002013-02-25T06:17:09.054+00:00My understanding is that improved Working Memory l...My understanding is that improved Working Memory leads to improved Executive Function. <br /><br />I&#39;ve never heard anyone argue that improved Working Memory leads to increased “verbal ability, word decoding, arithmetic”.<br /><br />This is kind of like arguing that Aspirin is useless because it has not anti-bacterial properties.Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04334740870003412893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-71663927708894628652013-02-18T11:16:59.736+00:002013-02-18T11:16:59.736+00:00Reply from Cogmed regarding the article:
http://ww...Reply from Cogmed regarding the article:<br />http://www.cogmed.com/commentary-working-memory-training-effective-metaanalytic-reviewGustavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10395948584423070743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-74372052210820492312013-02-17T21:31:27.922+00:002013-02-17T21:31:27.922+00:00* Relating to Cogmed (as the paper focusses on thi...* Relating to Cogmed (as the paper focusses on this programme)- I think people are missing the point here - <br /><br />Cogmed are not claiming all round benefits! - see<br /><br />http://www.cogmed.com/faq<br /><br />Cogmed markets (or indeed it really should do and let me know if you have seen otherwise) itself as a working memory and attention intervention, - and this what this meta analysis and associated peer reviewed papers also show.<br /><br />It does appear that there is limited transfer from working memory training to other skills - but please bear in mind that these papers all look at skills transfer over a very short time period - we can&#39;t rule out the possible cumulative effect of increased working memory function over say a 5 year period.<br /><br />Another thing to bear in mind is that many of these studies did not use what Cogmed call &#39;extension training&#39;, so yes it is likely that without that these additional booster exercises, training did not transfer to other skills - i.e. like many skills without regular<br />practise you may not see the benefits.<br /><br />Indeed up until recently, researchers thought that working memory capacity was more or less fixed, whereas now there is a great wealth of research to show that working memory can be improved with a relatively short intervention - in my book this is pretty remarkable!<br /><br />People should also release that the research as quoted in this meta-analysis, is that of a very high quality (and indeed made the grade into the Meta-analysis in the first place and so I really don&#39;t think people should in any way critise the research itself (which incidently is always independently run and funded from Cogmed itself).<br /><br />If indeed some staff from Cogmed are using this research in the wrong way in their marketing or other promotional material - yes this should be addressed.<br /><br />However, the evidence speaks for itself, Cogmed improves working memory skills, both on the programme itself and on objective measure of working memory ability. Whether or not this transfers to other skills - at the moment the evidence would suggest not - but we absolutely should not rule this out over a longer term period. All this shows to me is that the research dissemination should be very carefully managed. <br /><br />*I am a researcher who has evaluated Cogmed and seen first hand how it has benefitted children with working memory impairment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-31106758900665491442013-02-16T13:33:22.443+00:002013-02-16T13:33:22.443+00:00I just found this RCT from last year &quot;No Evid...I just found this RCT from last year &quot;No Evidence of Intelligence Improvement After Working Memory Training: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study.&quot; http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2012-16236-001/Christian Jarretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878126358281905947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-25294530012194662812013-02-15T23:58:08.191+00:002013-02-15T23:58:08.191+00:00Does any of this apply to the claims made by the A...Does any of this apply to the claims made by the Arrowsmith Program, where learning disabilities are claimed to be cured by using specific brain exercises?<br /><br />If so, what is the difference between these type of exercises and the ones used in the Arrowsmith Program?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-35135571386063367422013-02-15T16:40:44.222+00:002013-02-15T16:40:44.222+00:00hi Sam, thanks, that&#39;s an interesting study wi...hi Sam, thanks, that&#39;s an interesting study with a promising finding. From a quick look, it doesn&#39;t seem it was fully blinded though. So possible experimenter effects could be at play. Christian Jarretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878126358281905947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-69424232647939965722013-02-15T16:35:35.068+00:002013-02-15T16:35:35.068+00:00hi, that&#39;s v interesting, thanks for sharing. ...hi, that&#39;s v interesting, thanks for sharing. It&#39;s a bit different from the claims around working memory training since CogMed and others are claiming that working memory training has all round benefits, beyond straight-forward benefits for memory. Christian Jarretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878126358281905947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-76107062631782602982013-02-15T16:19:03.578+00:002013-02-15T16:19:03.578+00:00May studies prove the contrary and the effect of b...May studies prove the contrary and the effect of brain training on memory and other number of cognitive skills have been well established in the scientific literature. What is important is to distinguish the programs which have a real scientific background and peer-reviewed publications to the one which are merely brain games.<br /><br />The question regarding the transfer to real-life activities also depends how you measure the abilities in question and how you can track the progress in adults which already have developed mental health conditions which continue to worsen. More studies are needed but keeping your brain constantly challenged is a good idea.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-5238271131469772572013-02-14T23:20:53.375+00:002013-02-14T23:20:53.375+00:00This might be useful. Recently published:
http://...This might be useful. Recently published:<br /><br />http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306452213000201Sam McNerneyhttp://sammcnerney.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-42747395478166660462013-02-14T12:28:30.747+00:002013-02-14T12:28:30.747+00:00Excellent article which we agree with - we recentl...Excellent article which we agree with - we recently had a patient who had spent 3 months improving their score on game based test which was a computerised version of a proven neuro-psych battery. When we tested them on paper they went from top decile to bottom decile on the same test. So they don&#39;t even transfer between media, let alone generalise across different tasksRe:Cognition Healthhttp://www.re-cognitionhealth.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10980319.post-5353954835597050422013-02-14T11:00:35.307+00:002013-02-14T11:00:35.307+00:00What about this study Christian?
Training Can Imp...What about this study Christian?<br /><br />Training Can Improve Memory and Increase Brain Activity in Mild Cognitive Impairment<br />Mar. 1, 2012 <br /><br />http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120301180950.htmBCoelho2000http://www.blogger.com/profile/06029276305935797245noreply@blogger.com